How Computer Inefficiency Could Be Costing You

by: Matt Caswell

According to this Huffington Post – UK article, computer users lose about 130 hours a year in productivity due to inefficient computers. Besides the loss in productivity, the research indicates that computer downtime is one of the 7 most stressful events in life. Not just work-life, but everything-life.

Every business, no matter its size, is intimately involved in the community it serves. The fabric of a community depends on many elements. When a piece is lost, the community suffers.

Consider how a community would suffer if all the chiropractors moved to Canada, or if all the restaurants suddenly closed, or if all the plumbers and electricians retired.

Businesses make up a sizeable part of the community fabric. Not only do they provide goods and services, but they make other contributions as well. How well does your business stack up? And what can you do about it?

What does community involvement mean to you? When was the last time you assessed the needs and resources in your community? Have you truly identified and defined the gap between what is and what should be?

According to this Huffington Post – UK article, computer users lose about 130 hours a year in productivity due to inefficient computers. Besides the loss in productivity, the research indicates that computer downtime is one of the 7 most stressful events in life. Not just work-life, but everything-life.

These statistics are staggering and preventable.

For those not inclined to do the math, let’s see: 130 hours X $15/hour = $1950 a year in lost productivity. Adjust the hourly rate as applicable, but slow computers cost your company no matter what the pay scale. Multiply the numbers over the entire office staff, and quickly we are talking about real money.

And, if you remember economics 101, you know that small incremental increases in productivity contribute greatly to the bottom line.

There really is no excuse for using old, slow computers. Computers are cheap. For most office workers, a PC can be had for under a $1000, and if you amortize that over 3 years, it’s only $333.33 a year in cost to produce a bottom line productivity improvement – for each worker – of over $1600 per year.

And 130 hours isn’t just money, it is, well, time. That breaks down to two work weeks. That is two weeks of family vacations. Two weeks not spent with clients. That is time not spent growing your business, working through operational challenges or team development.

So how do I fix this? Maybe a new PC isn’t in your budget today? That’s okay, because right now the industry is in the midst of converting from spinning, slow mechanical hard disk drives – a technology from the 1980s – to much more efficient solid state drives (SSDs). Simply replacing an old, spinning hard drive with an SSD will speed things up considerably, and these upgrades can usually be done with little downtime. Seriously, the transformation with these SSDs is simply amazing. In fact, if you are buying new computers, you should only get SSDs.

It’s not just about replacing or upgrading old computers either. Performing common routine maintenance and management tasks are important in maintaining speed and performance as well. Perform tasks such as these to keep your computers at maximum speed:

● Defragment hard drives

● Perform full system clean ups (temp files, cookies, files, etc.)

● Install resident anti-malware & anti-virus with weekly scans

● Uninstall programs that aren’t being used

Many of these changes can be done by you, but don’t be afraid to engage a professional. It will make this process much easier. Indeed, there are likely higher leverage items already on your to-do list.

Your technology is important! It really is a critical investment in your organization, and by extension, in your people.

Matt Caswell is the President of Kirkham Systems, a Fort Smith-based IT firm serving Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas.